- Industry: Printing & publishing
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Routledge is a global publisher of academic books, journals and online resources in the humanities and social sciences.
(born 1947) Writer known for her mastery of both the novel and short story. Beattie combines comedy and insightful social observation in a deadpan style in her depictions of American life, focusing on middle-class and educated Northeasterners. Chilly Scenes of Winter (1976), her debut novel, was published in the same year as her first collection of short stories, Distortions. Her later works include the story collection Park City (1998), as well as novels Picturing Will (1989), Another You (1995) and My Life, Starring Dara Falcon (1997).
Industry:Culture
(born 1948) Award-winning Chicana author, activist, teacher, actor, Chavez is the author and editor of numerous novels and collections of poetry, short stories and drama. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Theater from New Mexico State University in 1974, a Master’s degree in Theater from Trinity University and a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico. In addition to writing, Chavez teaches, performs and organizes in southern New Mexico. Her emphasis on strong women and good storytelling appear in her best-known works Face of an Angel and The Last of the Menu Girls.
Industry:Culture
(born 1948) Conservative African American jurist. His 1991 nomination to the Supreme Court by President George Bush to replace liberal activist Thurgood Marshall provoked even more controversy when a former associate, law professor Anita Hill, accused him of sexual harassment. The ensuing televised hearings riveted and divided America around issues of race and gender—while Thomas’ supporters evoked the specter of a “high-tech lynching,” others were repelled not only by the charges but by the interrogations of a white, male Senate panel. Thomas was narrowly confirmed, and has taken a conservative albeit low-key stance in the Court. Issues and reflections surrounding these hearings are reviewed in Toni Morrison’s Race-ing Justice, En-Gendering Power (1992)
Industry:Culture
(born 1948) Novelist and memoirist, darker than noir. Ellroy has been the obsessive investigator and recreator of 1950s Los Angeles, CA—violent, verbal, dominated by sex and power, in novels like The Black Dahlia (1987) and LA Confidential (1987, film 1997). In soulsearching memoirs, he has explored the unsolved murder of his own mother and other intersections of his own life, crime and the city (see his Crime Wave (1995)). Weaving fragmented Hollywood fictions and realities and grittier racialized Los Angeles, Ellroy deconstructs the city’s iconic meanings, dark sides to a city of the sun.
Industry:Culture
(born 1948) Poet and novelist of mixed Native American, Mexican and Euro-American parentage, raised on the Pueblo Indian reservation. Her novels have explored the oral traditions of the Laguna peoples, before the arrival of whites or in deep cultural conflict with them. In Ceremony (1977), Storyteller (1981), Almanac of the Dead (1991) and other works, she defines and champions alternative voices of American storytelling.
Industry:Culture
(born 1948) Son of the distinguished Democratic Party senator from Tennessee, Gore grew up between Washington, DC and Carthage, Tennessee before attending Harvard and enlisting for service in Vietnam. He later worked as a journalist and attended Vanderbilty Divinity and Law Schools before joining Congress in 1977 and becoming a senator in 1984. He ran unsuccessfully in a crowded Democratic primary field in 1988, but became Bill Clinton’s running-mate in 1992, serving two terms as vice-president. Gore has claimed special commitment to and expertise in environmental issues (Earth in the Balance, 1992) and telecommunications. Heir to Clinton, in his 2000 presidential campaign Gore was both tainted by administrative scandals and unable to project the charisma that had carried Clinton through. His sober, wooden delivery and gaffes became the stuff of political satire. His performance at the Democratic Conventions, however, forced a tighter race with George Bush.
Industry:Culture
(born 1949) Coming of age in the late 1960s, Bruce Springsteen reflects the musical and social influences of the time, combining social critique of the folk tradition with the exuberance of rock ’n’ roll. Though his live performances have always earned him a devoted audience, his popularity exploded in the mid-1980s when he released “Born in the USA.” The album’s title song, a searing critique of a nation embattled by the Vietnam War and economic decline, was misinterpreted by many (including President Reagan) as a nationalistic anthem. Springsteen has raised money for political organizations such as the Christic Institute and the anti-nuclear movement. A 2000 song, “41 Bullets,” criticizes police brutality in New York City, NY.
Industry:Culture
(born 1949) Female actor and comedian who often has tackled issues of race and class. She gained screen prominence for her debut as the suffering Celie in The Color Purple (1985), although she won an Academy Award for Ghost (1990), the first black woman so honored since Hattie McDaniel (1939). She also served for several years as an acerbic and politicized emcee for the Academy Awards and developed a short-lived television talk show.
Industry:Culture
(born 1950) As a film-maker, John Sayles has often been drawn to historical subjects, which he uses to illustrate injustice (racial, ethnic, gender and class), as well as the sheer complexity of social interaction in modern America. Matewan (1987) chronicles the 1920 coal miners’ strike in West Virginia, while Eight Men Out (1988) investigates baseball’s Black Sox scandal of 1919. More recently Lone Star (1996) confronted the weight of history itself, delving into the past and present life of a small town in southern Texas.
Though rarely commercial successes, Sayles’ films display a rare willingness to address difficult issues of identity and social justice.
Industry:Culture
(born 1950) Born in New York City, NY of Southern migrant parents, Gloria Naylor grew up within the community of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Influenced by Toni Morrison, Naylor wrote her first novel, The Women of Brewster Place in 1981, focusing on the lives of women converging in a ghetto community The novel was critically acclaimed and commercially successful (developed into a television movie by Oprah Winfrey). Linden Hills (1985) focused on a suburban black community and revealed sensitivity to African American class issues. Naylor’s three other novels, Mama Day (1988), Bailey’s Cafe (1992) and The Men of Brewster Place (1998) have not matched the success of her first novel.
Industry:Culture
